Wow I started this post over a year ago and it’s been sitting in the draft folder ever since.
But considering that this post was intended to be all about something I am currently doing for my next D&D session. It seemed about time to dust off the words, finish the post, and share it with the world.
Last week (well it was when I originally wrote this) Mike aka Sly Flourish put up a short video on building lazy magic items (video embedded below).
These are my notes from watching the video below.
In the video Mike uses four “questions” to come up with a new unique magic item for your campaign, adventure, or one shot (I think that covers everything). They are the following:
- What is the condition of the item? – Get a list of conditions from Lazy DM Workbook (LDMWB) page 13.
- What is the origin of the item? – Who made it? Use the list in LDMWB on page 13 or DMG page 142.
- What type of item is it? – There is a list of mundane items in LDMWB on page 14, or the trinkets table 160 of PHB, if you want to make an object special and move away from the usual weapon/armour.
- What special power does the item have? – If it’s a weapon consider giving it a spell effect as well as +1 attack/defence bonus. Daily use power, number of charges, or single use more powerful item. You can also use the tables on page 14 of LDMWB or PHB.
Since then Mike has published the Lazy DM Companion which also allows you to create “… powerful single-use magic items generated with the condition, origin, item, and spell tables from the core adventure generator.”
Even if it’s a weapon like a sword with a +1 to attack rolls that you want to give the players, doing the first two and the last question adds so much extra flavour to the sword, all of a sudden it’s grimy gnomish longsword that twice a day allows the spell bane to be cast, and gives +1 to attack rolls. Wait I’m going to use that this Saturday!
I hope you have found these notes helpful. It’s a great way to create unique magic items for your game that will feel fresh to your players.